Adresse: Rue de Porto 132, 4020 Liège / BELGIQE TEL 003271318719 . Email: [email protected]
TO THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION
Dear Friends:
I, Yüksel Koç, am 55 years old and the father of two children. Since my arrival in Germany 30 years ago, I
have been employed and also active in politics. At the moment, I am co-chair of the European Democratic
Kurdish Society Congress (KCDK-E), the largest Kurdish non-governmental organization in Europe, which
includes 457 institutions and associations across Europe. Since 17 December 2018, my 12 comrades and I, as
part of the Freedom for Öcalan Initiative, have been on an indefinite hunger strike in Strasbourg. We are on the
64
th
day of this action, and our health is deteriorating.
WHY WE ARE ON HUNGER STRIKE
The prolonged solitary confinement of Abdullah Öcalan on the
İmralı
island prison has continued since his
unlawful abduction on 15 February 1999. On 18 March 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
found that the systematic isolation imposed upon Abdullah Öcalan had violated the prohibition on inhuman and
degrading treatment contained in Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Even though this
policy of isolation was identified as a kind of torture by the ECHR, it has been intensified by the Turkish state.
Mr Öcalan has been deprived of contact with his lawyer since 27 July 2011, and, over the last four years, his
family has been visited only two times. Both of these visitations were the result of hunger strikes.
Presently, in order to break the absolute isolation imposed upon Mr Öcalan, there have been a number of
democratic actions, demonstrations and activities undertaken by the KCDK-E and other European and Kurdish
institutions, groups and initiatives. Additionally, many meetings have been conducted on this topic with local,
national and international organisations. However, the silence of the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) and European countries concerning this ongoing isolation have encouraged Turkey to persist
with its policies.
Within this framework, even though this form of action will lead to severe consequences, we decided to begin a
hunger strike in order to end the solitary confinement imposed upon Mr Öcalan and push the government of
Turkey to reinitiate peace talks with the Kurdish Movement. As a matter of human dignity and human rights,
we call for an immediate end to the isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan. We call on the European
community to support our demand, and to insist that relevant institutions and governments take urgent action.
WHAT DOES THE ISOLATION IMPOSED UPON MR ÖCALAN MEAN?
The main reason for our hunger strikes is to lift the isolation imposed upon Mr Öcalan. Isolation is a form of
torture – it is a violation of universal human rights and is a crime against humanity. With its intensified
isolation policies against Mr Öcalan, Turkey’s AKP-MHP government has begun a new form of attack and
implemented new policies of violation towards the people and against the democratic politics. The Turkish
state initiated an armed military attack on the Kurdish towns within the country, including Cizre, Nusaybin, and
Şırnak,
and aimed to empty these areas. During these brutal military campaigns, over 200 young Kurdish
civilians were burned alive in basements of apartments. There are currently approximately 10,000 Kurdish
politicians, including co-chairs of the progressive Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), members of parliament,
mayors, and other party members detained and imprisoned. The AKP-MHP government has appointed their
trustees to govern the municipalities that were previously governed by democratically-elected mayors from the